United Nations officials say they are deeply concerned by the alarming deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the eastern province of North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo, DRC). According to the UN humanitarian office (OCHA), clashes have resumed in several parts of the towns of Masisi, Rutshuru and Sake, while fighting is also moving closer to the town of Kanyabanyonga.
In an update on Friday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the renewed fighting is displacing civilians, many of whom have sought safety in nearby towns. Kanyabayonga currently hosts more than 100,000 people who have fled violence in Rutshuru and Masisi territories.
Humanitarian operations in Kanyabanyonga have been suspended and at least 48,000 people have been cut off from assistance over the past week.
OCHA called on all parties to the conflict to respect international humanitarian law and take immediate steps to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure. The escalating violence threatens to worsen the already precarious humanitarian situation in North Kivu, which is home to more than 2.7 million internally displaced persons (IDPs).
The protracted humanitarian crisis in the DRC is largely neglected by donors, the media, and political leaders. Additional resources are urgently needed to address the humanitarian needs in the country.
Five months into the year, the 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan for the Democratic Republic of the Congo is only 23 percent funded, with $591 million received out of nearly $2.6 billion needed. Despite the funding shortfall, humanitarian agencies reached more than 3.1 million people in DRC with life-saving humanitarian assistance in the first three months of the year.
Escalating conflict is fueling record levels of displacement, hunger, and gender-based violence in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Two years of conflict in North Kivu province have forced more than 1.3 million people to flee their homes within the DRC, resulting in a total of 5.7 million internally displaced persons in the provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri.
Fighting between the Congolese army (FARDC) and the armed group Mouvement du 23 mars (M23) escalated in March 2022. Since then, violence has been concentrated in the Rutshuru and Masisi territories of North Kivu, and most displaced people have fled to the Nyiragongo territory.
Many displaced families have sought refuge in rudimentary camps on the outskirts of Goma, the capital of North Kivu. Between 600,000 and 1 million IDPs are crammed among the city's two million inhabitants.
Protracted armed violence perpetrated by non-state armed groups continues to exacerbate humanitarian needs and cause large-scale displacement, including people forced to flee as a result of the resumption of hostilities between M23 and FARDC.
Violent clashes between members of the M23, FARDC and coalitions of armed groups have resumed in North Kivu since October 2023 and intensified in the first quarter of 2024, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes. The influx of displaced people into host communities has strained existing resources and exacerbated the humanitarian crisis.
Cyclical violence perpetrated by armed groups and subsequent displacement affects millions of vulnerable civilians. The eastern DRC is home to several armed groups, including the M23, the Coopérative pour le développement du Congo (CODECO), Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels, and Zaire militants.
While most attention is focused on the deteriorating situation in North Kivu province, the humanitarian situation in Ituri province is becoming increasingly critical.
In Ituri, in parallel with intercommunal clashes between CODECO and Zaire armed groups, the ADF armed group has intensified its attacks against the civilian population, resulting in numerous killings, gross violations of human rights, and serious violations of international humanitarian law. As of April 2024, approximately 1.8 million people had been displaced in Ituri province.
Together with the M23 armed group, the ADF is responsible for most of the security incidents in North Kivu province. The non-state armed groups ADF and CODECO are responsible for most of the civilian killings in the eastern provinces.
The UN estimates that 25.4 million people - including an estimated 14.9 million children - are in need of humanitarian assistance in 2024. In the three eastern provinces of Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu, heavily affected by violence and insecurity, some 8 million women, men and children are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.
In total, more than 8.3 million people in the country have been forced to flee their homes. Of these, 7.2 million are internally displaced, making the DRC the second-largest internal displacement crisis in the world after Sudan. Some 1.1 million Congolese have sought refuge in neighboring countries.
More than 25 million people - a quarter of the DRC's population - continue to face crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity, making it one of the world's largest food crises. More than 1.1 million children are acutely malnourished. 250,000 children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and require urgent medical attention.
Climate extremes, exacerbated by the El Niño phenomenon, pose a further threat to already vulnerable families. Climate shocks are aggravating the living conditions of vulnerable people, with heavy rains, flash floods and river flooding impacting millions of Congolese and killing hundreds this year.
While the DRC continues to experience violence from more than 130 armed groups operating in the eastern regions, the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) has been operating in the regions since 1999 and is the largest UN peacekeeping mission in the world.
UN peacekeepers are due to withdraw from the eastern provinces as part of the mission's drawdown plan from the DRC. The Mission has already withdrawn from the province of South Kivu. MONUSCO will complete its withdrawal from the country by the end of 2024, raising fears for the protection of civilians and the specter of a worsening humanitarian emergency.